Court order to restore schools’ water

The High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday ordered that water supply to schools in Vanderbijlpark be reconnected, AfriForum said.

Head of education campaigns Carien Bloem said the court ordered the department of public works to pay outstanding property taxes for the schools, which had resulted in the water supply being cut.

“The department of public works must pay the taxes and the 1/8Emfuleni Local 3/8 municipality must put on the water at the schools.”

AfriForum and the Federation of Governing Bodies of SA Schools lodged an urgent application with the court to have the situation rectified.

Bloem said the water cuts came at the “worst time”.

“Almost 15,000 children were affected while they were writing the June exams,” she said.

According to AfriForum, there was proof that the schools had paid their water and electricity bills on time.

The department could not immediately be reached for comment, while the municipality was not immediately available to comment.

www.iol.co.za

/mjs/ar/ks 07/08/14 15-28

Schools, hospitals, universities, office blocks….. the list is endless…. I think water cuts must be one of the most common problems in South Africa at the moment and as usual “the department is not available for comment”. When you can’t flush toilets at a school you have a serious problem at hand. Water Rhapsody urges all schools to consider rainwater harvesting as an off the grid option or at least for toilet flushing. Our system is designed to always store emergency water in the water tanks for these water outage days. By saving water you end up saving money and the children can focus on learning instead of water availability!